東海道名所之内　加茂川遊覧

About this print

This nishiki-e shows pleasure outings on the Kamo River in Kyoto. The river's name in the title is written with different characters, but it is the same river. The print is one of a series popularly called Gojoraku Tokaido (The Tokaido on the Shogun's Trip to Kyoto), made in 1863 (Bunkyu 3), when many artists divided up the places along the Tokaido to mark the shogun Tokugawa Iemochi's trip to Kyoto. A work with the same title is attributed to Utagawa Hiroshige II. The records give no date for this particular print.

The riverbed of the Kamo began to bustle with shows and street vendors around the time Toyotomi Hideyoshi rebuilt the bridges at Sanjo and Gojo. Wealthy merchants set up seats for watching and teahouses appeared. This is said to be the origin of noryo yuka, raised platforms for enjoying the cool evening air. After stone walls and embankments were built in the Kanbun era (1661 to 1673), geisha districts such as Pontocho grew up nearby, and by the middle of the Edo period some 400 teahouses were setting out platforms.

Today, the Kamogawa Noryo Yuka is still held every year from May to early fall, when restaurants on the west bank build platforms out over the riverside. It is a classic sight of summer in Kyoto.

Glossary